In a Jan. 30, 2026 letter to the head of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGDA), Hydrocarbons Minister Acacia Bandubola Mbongo alleged “massive and organized” customs fraud involving finished petroleum products in the southern zone of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the letter, the former land affairs minister, who served from May 2024 to August 2025, said that of nearly 2 million cubic meters of fuel imported via the southern route in 2025, only half was properly cleared. The remainder allegedly entered the country without payment of required duties and taxes, resulting in an estimated shortfall of nearly $800 million for the public treasury.
Some industry players dispute that assessment, arguing it assumes that all finished petroleum products imported through the southern corridor were destined exclusively for the mining sector. They note that the 2025 finance law, under Article 22, removed import duty and VAT exemptions specifically for road and aviation fuels, including gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, lamp oil and LPG, used in mining activities or sold to mining companies and their subcontractors. Moreover, the provision only took effect in August 2025 and therefore could not apply to the entire year.
To enforce the measure, mining companies are now required to procure fuel under customs supervision and to use products marked under a specific identification system designed to distinguish them from fuel sold at service stations, which remains exempt from import taxes.
Long-standing suspicions
Some mining operators, however, are accused of attempting to circumvent the system, including by resisting surprise inspections conducted by the Marking Brigade, which monitors compliance. In a Sept. 13, 2025 statement, the Federation of Congolese Enterprises said the DGDA had observed what it described as an excessive increase in volumes of petroleum products declared for domestic consumption in Haut-Katanga, reinforcing suspicions that some operators were bypassing the requirement to source fuel under customs supervision.
In her letter, the hydrocarbons minister also alleged that certain DGDA departments were complicit in the fraudulent practices. She said her ministry had documented a system built on mechanisms designed to circumvent customs procedures.
As an example, she cited the Jan. 16, 2026 seizure of three tanker trucks carrying unmarked fuel. According to the hydrocarbons administration, the products initially attributed to Vexhor were transferred under customs supervision to Panda International Congo on Jan. 9, 2026. The transfer was allegedly authorized by the deputy director of the DGDA customs brigade in Haut-Katanga, who is also accused of transmitting sensitive information to the operator and exposing field agents to reprisals.
The minister further questioned the DGDA’s response, noting that as the authority responsible for managing the SIDONIA customs system, it would have had access to data revealing discrepancies. She raised concerns over the absence of formal complaints, internal alerts or visible disciplinary action given the scale of the alleged incidents.
She called in particular for the precautionary suspension of the officials cited and for the publication of a detailed report on the matter.
Timothée Manoke
